June 05, 2005

This week in doping

Liberty Seguros' Isidro Nozal (not to be confused with Discovery's Benjamin Noval) and Lampre's Scotto D'Abusco have been DQ'ed from the Dauphiné after testing too high on their prerace hematocrit levels. Officially, the riders are banned from racing for 15 days, but no presumption of doping can be made. Liberty Seguros, however, includes a clause removing riders from the team on any positive, so Nozal will be undergoing additional UCI tests to determine the cause of his high hematocrit.

Potentially giving Hamilton a little hope is the case of Danilo Hondo, who this week had his ban reduced to 1 year with a four-year probation. He can come back in April 2006, after testing positive for stimulants in March.

Quick Step's Marc Lotz was forced off the team when a local investigation turned up a dealer of anabolic steroids and growth hormone, and evidence that Lotz was a client. A search of Lotz's home reportedly turned up EPO and other banned substances.